Emeraldella

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title: "Emeraldella" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["burgess-shale-fossils", "artiopoda", "artiopod-genera", "cambrian-genus-extinctions", "wheeler-shale"] description: "Extinct genus of arthropods" topic_path: "general/burgess-shale-fossils" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emeraldella" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Extinct genus of arthropods ::

| fossil_range = | image = Emeraldella brocki USNM PAL 136439.jpg | image_caption = Emeraldella brocki | image2 = Emeraldella brutoni 1.png | image2_caption = Emeraldella brutoni | display_parents = 3 | taxon = Emeraldella | authority = Walcott, 1912 | type_species = †Emeraldella brocki | type_species_authority = Walcott, 1912 | subdivision_ranks = Other species | subdivision = †Emeraldella brutoni Stein, Church & Robison, 2011

Description

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b9/Emeraldella_brutoni_reconstruction.png" caption="setae]] (hair-like structures). The caudal flaps were modified exopods, and were also fringed with setae." alt="]]''Emeraldella'' species reached around {{Convert"] ::

Taxonomy

In 1923, Emeraldella was placed, along with Sidneyia, as part of the group "Xenopoda". Today, both Sidneyia and Emeraldella are placed as part of the clade Vicissicaudata within Artiopoda, which includes trilobites and other arthropods with similar bodyforms. However, Sidneyia and Emeraldella are usually not recovered as each others closest relatives within Vicissicaudata, rendering "Xenopoda" invalid.

Cladogram after McCoy et al. 2025:{{Clade|{{clade |label1=Vicissicaudata |1={{Clade sequential |1=Molaria spinifera [[File:Molaria spinifera.png|70px]] |2=Emeraldella brocki |3=Emeraldella brutoni [[File:Emeraldella_brutoni_reconstruction.png|100px]] |4={{Clade sequential |1=Sidneyia inexpectans [[File:Sidneyia_inexpectans.png|100px]] |2=Tardisia broedeae |3=Cheloniellida [[File:20200415_Cheloniellon_calmani.png|150px]] |5=Carimersa neptuni |6=Kodymirus vagans [[File:Kodymirus_vagans.jpg|70px]] |7=Eozetetes gemelli |8=Aglaspidida [[File:20240212_Aglaspis_spinifer.png|100px]]

References

References

1. (August 1912). "II.—Cambrian Geology and Palæontology. No. 6: Middle Cambrian Beanchiopoda, Malacostraca, Trilobita, and Merostomata. By C. D. Walcott. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, vol. lvii, No. 6 (publication 2051), 1912.". Geological Magazine.
2. (October 2006). "Taphonomy of the Greater Phyllopod Bed community, Burgess Shale". PALAIOS.
3. (June 2012). "A restudy of the Burgess Shale (Cambrian) arthropod Emeraldella brocki and reassessment of its affinities". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology.
4. (2011-09-29). "A new Cambrian arthropod, Emeraldella brutoni, from Utah". Paleontological Contributions.
5. (2019-10-31). "Appendicular anatomy of the artiopod Emeraldella brutoni from the middle Cambrian (Drumian) of western Utah". PeerJ.
6. (August 2023). "A vicissicaudatan arthropod from the Silurian Herefordshire Lagerstätte, UK". Royal Society Open Science.
7. (2025). "A possible vicissicaudatan arthropod from the Late Carboniferous Mazon Creek Lagerstätte". Geological Magazine.

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